1. Field of the Invention
The invention refers to an outside rear-view mirror for vehicles. The mirror comprises a pedestal adapted to be mounted to the body of the vehicle, and a mirror housing which is coupled to the pedestal and which may tilt relative to the pedestal by activating an electric motor.
2. Description of Related Art
German Patent Specification 35 38 159 discloses an outside rear-view mirror for a commercial vehicle the mirror housing of which is held at a pedestal mounted to the body of the vehicle. An electric motor is mounted to the pedestal and may be activated electrically by the driver of the vehicle. The motor is coupled to the mirror housing by a clutch and upon activation swings the mirror housing towards the body of the vehicle or swings the tilted mirror housing to the position of normal use thereof.
The electric motor is mounted outwardly to the pedestal and therefore has to be packaged carefully for eliminating influences of dust and humidity. Such hermetic packaging of the electric motor is a drawback of the known device particularly in view of the considerable extend of a housing into which the electric motor has to be embeded. Moreover, for fast running cars the separate electric motor housing may give cause to windnoise.
Therefore, a number of attempts have been made to integrate invisibly the drive motor into the outside rear-view mirror. As an example, published European Patent Application 146 888 discloses a drive motor which is mounted within the mirror housing close to the tilting axes thereof and which is coupled to the pedestal through a gear transmission. An arm projects laterally from the pedestal below a portion of the mirror housing close to the pedestal and which is connected to said portion by a bolt or rivet to which a gear is mounted. This structure, however, cannot be utilized for outside rear-view mirrors the mirror housing of which is coupled to the pedestal by two spaced roller barings or by a rocker. Moreover, mounting of the drive motor within the mirror housing occupies space which would be needed for bowden-cables or similar transmission means for mechanically adjusting a mirror glass held within the mirror housing.